websites 102: marketing your business online 01 ... · websites 102: marketing your business online...

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Websites 102: Marketing Your Business Online

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01. Introductions / Course Overview

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Who I Am / What I Do / Who I Do It For

derek allard

[email protected] | 413.529.0754

Standards Based Website Designer

focused on return on investment

based on client goals

Primarily small to medium sized

businesses who want to make the

most of their website

Websites 102: Marketing Your Business Online tunnel7.com 4

Who Are You / What Do You Do

... and what are you looking to get

out of this class

Do you have a website? If yes, what

has your experience with it been?

Websites 102: Marketing Your Business Online tunnel7.com

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Sections of This Class

01. Introductions / Course Overview

02. Evaluating / Planning Your Website

03. Analyzing Your Website

04. Free Things Everyone Should Be Doing

05. Search Engine Optimization

06. Paid Advertising with Google Adwords

07. Email Marketing

08. Blogging / Podcasting and the RSS Feed

09. Social Media Websites

10. Wrap up / Questions & Answers


Goals of This Class

Help you to market your business

online

Show you in a hands on way some

tools to help you

Keep it fun and entertaining

Keep it interactive ... If you have a

question/comment/concern stop me

and let me know


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Class Materials

Presentation and outline will be

posted at www.tunnel7.com/cdc


02. Evaluating / Planning Your Website

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Selecting A Domain Name

Keep it concise and easy to remember

.com is what people remember most

Domain name extensions changing


Does Your Website Have A Clear Goal?

What action do you want visitors to

your website to take?

Websites should have a focused goal.

Website simplicity is the cornerstone

of goal achievement


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Who is Your Competition?

Does your website stand up to your

competition?

How much competition is there?

Reviewing your competition's website

is a great way to get ideas and avoid

pitfalls


The Importance of Website Standards

What website standards are (W3C)

Separation of content and design

Improve accessibility and maximize

search engine friendliness

Forward compatibility and ease of

maintenance / reusable code


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Non-SEO Friendly Technologies

Flash animations

Framesets

Hidden text, keyword stuffing and

link farms


The Importance of Website Content

“Content is king.”

Your content is as big a marketing

piece as anything else we will discuss

Speak to the benefits your audience

will receive from working with you

Keep content brief and focused on

your website goal


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Why Are We Talking About Websites?

Because it is the foundation upon

which all of your marketing efforts

will be built upon

Websites are the new yellow pages

and are often the first impression of

your business

Treat your website as you would your

business


03. Analyzing Your Website

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Understanding Visitors To Your Website

Do you regularly review your website

statistics?

Unlike traditional print media

websites offer a direct way to track

visitors

Websites also can show you the

effectiveness of marketing efforts


Where Is Your Traffic Coming From

Search Engines?

Referring Websites?

Paid ads?

Direct traffic?


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What Are Your Most Popular Pages?

Homepage will be the most popular

by default for most websites

Knowing what pages are most heavily

trafficked will tell you what your

visitors are looking for


Enter Google Analytics

Primary tool I use for my clients when

analyzing their websites

Invaluable and free

Have your web person set it up for

you tomorrow


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Make Better Website Decisions

Understanding analytics can save you

time and money and increase your

goal conversion

Identify under performing marketing

and ads

Identify your visitors areas of interest


Set Goals For Your Website

Traffic alone should not be your

goal / Not all traffic is created equal

Think of your website as a funnel.

Your homepage is the top of that

funnel

Where do you want your visitors to

go?


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04. Free Things Everyone Should Be Doing

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Add Your Website URL To All Collateral

Letterhead

Business cards

Invoices

Envelopes

Brochures


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Include Your Website URL In Ads

Print ads

TV ads

Radio spots


Build An Email Mailing List

Email marketing is a great, low cost

way to connect with your audience

Encourage website visitors to give you

their email address (contest sign up,

white paper, etc.)

If you have a store put a blank book

out for customers to leave their

information


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Use Your Domain Email (Not AOL!)

Domain email contains your website

address so people can easily find it

Having a non-domain email (aol,

verizon, charter) for a business

address conveys the message that you

aren't serious about your website

Separates business email from

personal email


Make Use Of Your Email Signature

Signature can be a marketing tool

Mention upcoming events or specials

Include social media websites where

people can find you


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Utilize Social Media Websites

Forums, blogs (comments) and social

media websites are a great way to

establish credibility and build links

Become an expert in your field

Twitter, Facebook & LinkedIn

Painless networking (no awkward

schmoozing!)


Add Your Business To Google Local

People rely more and more on search

engines and less and less on the

yellow pages

Google Local is free / yellow pages

are anything but free


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Leverage Craig's List

Place ads offering your services

Find business from interested parties

Craig's List is free


Don't Let Your Website Go Stale

A dated website is one that reflects

poorly on your business

Competition online is massive – stay

current!


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05. Search Engine Optimization

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Three Major Search Engines

Google

Yahoo

MSN (Microsoft)


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Google

Current search engine leader

Accounts for 63% of all searches done

online

Because of this people pay closer

attention to their Google rankings


Yahoo

Was once the search king

Accounts for 19% of all searches done

online

Have been in merger talks


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MSN (Microsoft)

Has always been playing catchup to

both Google and Yahoo

Accounts for only 8% of all searches

done online


Organic Search Results

Determined by content of your

website

Determined by placement of

keywords within tags that hold more

relevance

Determined by the number and

quality of inbound links


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Selecting Keywords

The foundation for any search engine

optimization (SEO) campaign

Look at your competition for ideas

Understanding keyword popularity

and the effects thereof

Google keyword tool


Content Must Contain Keywords

Search engines read your content just

as you or I would

Meta tags not as important as they

once were

Place keywords in <title> and <h#>

tags


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Building Links From Related Websites

Links to your website essentially

count as a “vote” for your website

Better if website linking to you has

related, relevant content


Monitoring Progress Is Essential

No simple formula for high search

engine rankings

Check progress on a monthly basis

Utilize Google Analytics

Firefox Rank Checker


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06. Paid Advertising With Google Adwords

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Have You Used Paid Search Results?

What has your experience been?

How long did you run the ads?


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How Pay Per Click Ads Work

Bid on keywords and associate ads

with the keywords

Can define a daily budget limit

Popular ads are displayed higher and

receive cost discounts

URLs take user to a page of your

choosing on your website


Keywords Used In Paid Search Also

The work we did in determining

keywords for organic, non-paid

efforts will be used for paid search

also


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Selecting Keywords To Bid On

Highly competitive keywords will be

very expensive to bid on

Often makes sense to bid on less

expensive, niche keywords

Finding a niche is a good approach for

most small businesses


Recommended Bid Prices Inflated

Google will suggest a bid price and

daily budget

They tend to be rather inflated

Bid recommendations will be based

on #1 position (not essential)


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Importance Of Experimentation

Experimenting with ads will improve

your effectiveness and lower

expenses

Will drive more traffic at a lower cost


Split Testing

Always run two ads for identical

keywords

After a set period of time delete the

under performing ad and write a new

one


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Importance Of Monitoring Campaigns

Under performing keywords should be

eliminated

Can connect Google Adwords

campaigns to Google Analytics

Constant refinement will eliminate

wasted costs and improve your click

through rates


Landing Pages

Are critical to the success of any

Google Adwords campaign

Do not send your traffic to a general

homepage!

Landing page should be closely linked

to ad text and offer clear calls to

action


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07. Email Marketing

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Great Low Cost Alternative

No postage

No high priced ad placements

Targeted to your specific audience


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Building An Email Mailing List

The better your list, the better your

email marketing campaigns will be

Take the time to build a great list

Offer something in exchange for

email addresses

Buying existing mailing lists


Don't Become A Spammer

If buying lists, make sure they are

reputable

If someone unsubscribes from your

mailings make sure they are

unsubscribed

Abide by the CAN-SPAM act


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Establish A Regular Schedule

A regular email schedule keeps you in

contact with your customers

Once a month works well in most

cases

Defining the email topics on an

annual basis very helpful


When To Send Your Message

Never send on a weekend

Monday and Friday's tend not to be

good

10 am – 1 pm midweek regarded as

prime time


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HTML Email Madness

There are dozens of email clients and

all support HTML email differently

Test in as many clients as you can

Online services offer basic templates

to get you started

Rely sparingly on images


Elements Of A Good HTML Email

Link to a website location

One clear point or offer with a clear

direction (button) to proceed

Design matches website

Physical address present (CAN-SPAM)

All links tagged for Google Analytics


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Options For Sending

Sending using Outlook not an option

Using an online service (Campaign

Monitor / Constant Contact)

Software installed on your server (List

Messenger)


08. Blogging/Podcasting And The RSS Feed

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What Are RSS Feeds?

RSS is a format for delivering

regularly changing website content

Many news-related sites, blogs and

other online publishers syndicate

their content as an RSS Feed to

whoever wants it

Used by CNN, WWLP, MassLive, etc.


Why Should I Care About RSS?

RSS has been rapidly growing in

recent years

Allows your visitors a way to subscribe

to your content

Allows for syndication of content

(BlogBurst)


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What Is A Blog?

Essentially it's a collection of articles

Can allow visitors to comment on

what you write through comments

Is connected to an RSS feed so visitors

can be alerted when you post


What Is A Podcast?

An audio or video presentation for

your visitors to listen to or watch

Is also connected to an RSS feed to

deliver to interested parties

Can be downloaded to an iPod (or

other mp3 player)


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Keeping Content Fresh

Regular blog/podcast posts offer your

visitors new content and a reason to

come back to your website

Regularly updated content helps rank

your website higher in search engines


Become The Expert

Blogging / Podcasting about your work

helps establish you as an expert in

your field

(It also humanizes you and connects

with your audience in a direct way)


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A Word Of Caution

Make sure you have resources to

devote to regularly blogging and/or

podcasting

A blog or podcast that is not regularly

updated detracts from a website

rather than add to it


Popular Blogging Tools

Third party options – blogger.com,

wordpress.com

Hosted options – wordpress.org,

expressionengine.com

Hosted options require technical

know how but benefit from all posts

being on your URL


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09. Social Media Websites

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Social Media Explosion

Social media websites have seen

exponential growth in the last year

Allows you to establish and build

relationships with people

Allows you to develop leads through

these relationships

Helps you build links to your website


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Twitter

Asks the question: What are you

doing?

Seems simple and silly but has

become a great networking tool

Was the fastest growing website on

the internet in October 2008


Facebook

More involved than Twitter but serves

a similar purpose

Tends to be more casual than business

oriented

Was the second fastest growing

website in October 2008

Can establish groups related to your

work


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LinkedIn

Social website dedicated to the

business community

Connect with past co-workers and

then connect with their connections


Flickr

Photo sharing service

Has becoming immensely popular –

reached 3 billion photos in November

2008

Has users create profiles like other

social media websites


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More Ways To Connect With You

All these sites offer additional ways

for folks to get in touch with you

Allows you to connect with them via

comments, tweets, posts, etc.

Add your social media locations to

your email signature and website


All Social Media Websites Are Sticky

Unlike an email that can easily be

deleted, once someone connects with

you they generally stay connected

Gives you another avenue to

broadcast your message

Allows you to poll others with their

thoughts about your work


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10. Wrap Up / Questions And Answers

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Evaluate / Planning Your Website

Set goals for your website

Make your website search engine

friendly with website standards

Never under estimate good content


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Analyzing Your Website

Use Google Analytics to better

understand how your website is

performing

Knowing this you can make better

decisions about marketing efforts


Free Things Everyone Should Be Doing

Include you website URL in all printed

materials and ads

Little things count: email signatures,

domain email, email lists, social

media websites

All contribute to overall success of

your website


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Search Engine Optimization

Keywords are the foundation of any

SEO effort

Keywords must be included in content

and in areas search engines pay

attention to

Inbound links to your website will

improve rankings

Monitor progress regularly


Paid Advertising With Google Adwords

Keywords are the foundation for paid

advertising as well

Look to find a niche and stay away

from expensive keywords

Constant experimentation will make

your ads more popular and help lower

costs


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Email Marketing

Great low cost alternative to

traditional print advertising

Build yourself a great email mailing

list

Establish a regular schedule

Be aware of technical limitations of

HTML email


Blogging/Podcasting And The RSS Feed

Great way to add new content to your

website on a regular basis

RSS allows visitors to subscribe to

your content (and for others to

syndicate your content)

Be sure you have the resources to

devote to a regular blog or podcast


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Social Media Websites

Have grown exponentially in the last

year

Great way to network with folks

(without the painful schmoozing!)

Build relationships and leads through

these websites


Takeaways

Your website is often the first

impression of your business

Have a plan, goals and track your

successes and failures

Leverage as many opportunities as

possible and see what works for you


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Recommended Books

Web Design for ROI – Loveday / Niehaus

Ultimate Guide to Google Adwords –

Marshall / Todd

Search Engine Visibility – Sharon Thurow

Don't Make Me Think – Steve Krug

Web Design and Marketing Solutions –

Kevin Potts


Recommended Websites

seobook.com

websitegrader.com

afterthelaunch.com (newsletter)

campaignmonitor.com

tunnel7.com


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Thank You

derek allard

Tunnel 7

[email protected] | 413.529.0754


websites 102: marketing your business online 01 ... · websites 102: marketing your business online...

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